association, well, he is now on the fifa council, the uefa delegates are letting him to a four—year term as well. it is a powerful position from which he can extend the influence of the english association, may be important if in future they decide they want to have a run at a world cup bid may before 2030. but after the vote i caught up with greg clark andi the vote i caught up with greg clark and i asked him about one of the other issues affecting the english game at the moment, that of racism. there is talk in the premier league about how they can improve the situation given a spate of recent incidents and the sports minister has also called in various stakeholders for talks. this is what greg clark had to say on that. we need to make sure that people who play the game, people who watch the game, people who referee the game are safe from abuse and violence and threats. and we are coming up with a cohesive approach between stakeholders and government on how we can improve it. as for matters on the pitch, well, var, video assistant referees, that is being introduced into the champi

beat russia 3—1 in brussels. the home side — who are currently top of the fifa world rankings — took the lead after only 1a minutes through leicester city's on—loan striker youri tielemans. but within two minutes, the russians were level — denis cheryshev, who's on loan at valencia — scored the equaliser. on the stroke of half—time, eden hazard put belgium back in front with a penalty — and then added a third two minutes from time. elsewhere, there were wins for the netherlands and northern ireland in group c. memphis depay scored twice for the dutch as they beat belarus a—nil. they play germany on sunday. in group e, croatia beat azerbaijan 2—1 — but had to come from behind to do it. andrej kramaric scored the late winner for last year's world cup runners—up. poland and north macedonia both won their opening games in group g, while israel against slovenia finished 1—all. and there's the confirmation of belgium's 3—1victory over russia in group eye. big wins, too, for cyprus and kazakhstan. one other result for you and chelsea will take a 2—0 lead into the sec

expand the 2022 world cup to 48 teams have been abandoned by fifa, after a thorough and comprehensive consultation process. fifa president gianni infantino said last year the expansion from 32 teams could be brought forward from 2026 to the 2022 tournament, but the change would have required qatar to share hosting duties with other countries in the region. the 2026 world cup will still increase to 48 teams, though, as planned. our football correspondent john murray has more. over two years ago, fifa voted unanimously to increase the number of teams at the world cup from the current 32 to 48 for the tournament in 2026, which will be hosted by the usa, canada and mexico. last year, fifa president gianni infantino said he hoped it would be possible to bring forward the expansion to the 2022 world cup in qatar. that would, however, have required qatar to share hosting duties with other countries in the region, and fifa have now decided, after what they describe as a thorough and, hence process , describe as a thorough and, hence process, that change could not be made for 2022, and it woul

important one for us. the women's world cup starts this week in france. the world governing body, fifa, is hoping once again the tournament can help grow the game across the globe. but there is one success story that will forever go down in women's football history. japan, who scotland and england will face in group d, won the competition in 2011, but the victory came after unspeakable national tragedy. 0ur sports news correspondent chris mclaughlin has been injapan and has the story. the world cup in germany, 2011. against all the odds, japan are crowned champions. a road to glory paved by, even inspired by, tragedy. just a few weeks earlier, this was japan. a huge tsunami follows a massive earthquake. parts of the country were completely devastated. those who watched as they prepared for the world cup say they almost pulled out. instead, they won it. that when back in 2011 has become as much a part of the culture here as neon lights and karaoke. national identity and pride here are just so important. but i wonder if that moment in time has actually helped grow the game. the japanese fa s

men's side, and megan rapinoe believes that fifa can do more. they have been against, of course. i don't think you can say there has been nothing but i don't feel that has been that big paradyne shift into making incremental games. when is it gonna be that moment where all the cards are framed. i do not think that fifa has done that at all. —— the cards are thrown. to tennis and wednesday at the french open was a complete washout as persistent rain forced the remaining quarter—finals at roland garros to be moved to thursday, affecting both women's champion simona halep and men's world number i novak djokovic. there is the potential for the tournament to go through to monday depending on the weather over the next 2a hours. you may know that the man on your left is indian cricketer umesh yadav but the person standing next to him is a chicago white sox baseballer by the name of karan patel. he was a part of history this week when selected in the 7th round of the draft, the 200th pick overall, and the first american of indian origin to be drafted by a major league team. it could

reproach himself over. absolutely confident. there has been no reaction today or from fifa. absolutely confident. there has been no reaction today orfrom fifa. they say they are not in a position to comment further but french police can detain michel platini for up to 48 hours in this building. defending champions kashima antlers beat sanfrecee hiroshima 1—0 in the home leg of their asian champions league last 16 clash on tuesday. the only goal of the game came midway through the first half, brazilian midfielder serginho nodding in from close range with the second leg taking place next tuesday in hiroshima. ub an all chinese clash guangzhou evergrande beat shandong luneng 2—1 at home but it all came down to this own goal in the 80th minute. having an away goal on the score sheet will at least offer some consolation to shandong for their home leg next week. peru beat bolivia 3—1 on tuesday to improve the team's chances of advancing to the knockout stage of copa america. jefferson farfan and edinson flores second half goals in rio dejaneiro taking them top of the group

nation in fifa's world rankings but tunisia could only manage a draw against angola at the africa cup of nations. it finished 1—1 in their match in group e thanks to a second half angola equaliser. in the other game in the group, mali thrashed the tournament debutants mauritania 4—1whilst aston villa'sjonathan kodja got the only goal of the game as ivory coast beat south africa by a goal to nil. meanwhile ghana begin their campaign against benin on tuesday. and they'll be hoping to improve on a series of near—misses. across the last six tournaments they've finished runners—up twice and reached four other semi finals. we've been talking to one of their star players about why he thinks they're one of the teams to watch: this is why you should support ghana. we are an exciting team and we don't want to go into the bench andi we don't want to go into the bench and i believe this is going to be a yearforghana. i and i believe this is going to be a year for ghana. i will give and i believe this is going to be a yearfor ghana. i will give it to you. my barack does the work for us

attitude towards football in africa. last month, fifa announced they are taking joint charge of running african football alongside the continent's governing body, caf. it followed allegations of corruption against the caf president, ahmad ahmad, something he denies. fifa's decision has been criticised by some african officials as well as former president sepp blatter, who has called it a new aspect of colonialism. that is something the current fifa president denies. what more can we do at fifa and sending our top administrator with a tea m sending our top administrator with a team of experts to africa to help? what more can we do? i've been hearing that fifa is colonising africa again. fifa. we have defined a roadmap that is a leading document, that will transform together, that you have to transform, because i want your contribution to make it a success. infantino was speaking at the caf congress in cairo ahead of friday's africa cup of nations final. algeria face senegal, who are bidding to win the trophy for the first time. senegal lost in their only previous final in 2002, a

eventual winner will be named at next month's fifa football awards in milan. the sight of australian batsmen steve smith being brought to the ground by a bouncer travelling around 150km/h during the second ashes test has reignited the debate about concussion in cricket. smith had looked disorientated as he left the pitch on saturday — yet he was soon given the all clear to continue. now a leading brain injury charity says it was incredibly dangerous. our sports correspondent andy swiss has more. hit in the neck at 90mph. and the ball which struck steve smith has now sparked a far broader debate. why? well, after leaving the field for assessment, smith was allowed to return. just a0 minutes later, he was back batting again. but then, the next morning, he complained of headaches and was ruled out of yesterday's final day. so, should smith have ever been allowed back on? well, one leading brain injury charity believes not. i was surprised, i was disappointed and i was worried. the reality is that it is too short a time to accurately diagnose whether or not he was concussed

victory as they lost lionel messi to injury on his first start of the season. the newly—crowned fifa player of the year set up antoine griezmann for the opening goal but came off at halftime with a thigh injury. arthur had put barca 2—0 up before a santi cazorla goal pulled a goal back for the visitors. so just a third league win in sixmatches so far this season. but that victory drags barca up to fourth, one point behind surprise package granada whose draw at real valladolid was enough to send them top. real betis, meanwhile, beat levante 3—1 with two goals from loren moron who has five goals in five games now. a in five games now. shock result in the english leag cup a shock result in the english league cup on tuesday with tottenham hotspur, champions league finalists last season, beaten on penalties by fourth tier colchester united —— fourth tier colchester united —— fourth tier colchester united —— fourth tier tear. samoa have kicked off their rugby world cup campaign with a bonus point victory over russia in kumagaya on tuesday. russia led 6—5 at the break, aft

club. a fifa panel met to rule on a dispute between the two sides, who had failed to reach agreement on settling payment for the striker. cardiff had argued they were not liable for the fee because sala was not officially their player when he died. scotland have reignited their rugby world cup campaign with a much improved 34—0 victory over samoa. having been comprehensively outplayed by ireland in their opening match at the tournament injapan they scored four tries in a bonus point win that could prove crucial in a wide open group a. our correspondant katie gornall sent us this report from kobe there was so much pressure on scotla nd there was so much pressure on scotland coming into this game against samoa, defeat was not an option and then you they do notjust have to win, but they had to score four tries in the process, that would yield that all—important bonus point and give them the best chance of progressing from pool a which is wide open at the moment. nerves in the stadium, the conditions were against them, it was very hot and humid in there, butjust as the anxi

they'll be permitted entry to a game in tehran. it comes after demands from fifa, after a female fan — sahar khodayari — set herself on fire and died after being turned away at a game last month. over 3000 thousand tickets have now been sold to women, and world football's governing body hope this will be extended to the rest of football in the country. here's our sports editor dan roan. 0ut out of tragedy can sometimes come change. sahar out of tragedy can sometimes come change. sa har khodayari out of tragedy can sometimes come change. sahar khodayari died after setting herself alight in protest for having been arrested for trying to attend a football match. a story led to a global outcry. uranium women can go to matches like this one, at the book up in russia but back into their home that they have been banned from men's sports events for the last a0 years and that is now set to change with several thousand women allowed to buy tickets for an international into a run and fever will be there watching closely. —— tehran. run and fever will be there watching closely. -- te

pressure from football's world governing body, fifa — and the death of a fan who set herself alight, after being arrested for trying to attend a match. more than 3,500 women bought tickets for the world cup qualifier against cambodia, where they were granted access to a special women's—only section of the azadi stadium. but amnesty international described the move as a cynical publicity stu nt because the capacity is 78,000. there are supervisors from fifa that came to observe and check the behaviour of the iran federation so the atmosphere is very good, it's very sympathetic and i hope we all enjoyed the match. well, they would have enjoyed the match — with sardar azmoun scoring a hat—trick as iran thrashed cambodia 14—0. karim ansarifard went one better — scoring four — as the iranians made it two wins out of two in group c. there were plenty of goals all round asia on thursday. yang xu scored four as china beat guam 7—nil, jamie maclaren scored a hat—trick in australia's 5—nil win over nepal, in group f, japan scored 6 against mongolia while kyrgyzstan managed 7

explains fifa's reasoning behind the potential punishment. it was in january that emiliano sala decided to start a new chapter of his football in korea here in cardiff city but in a tragedy that was felt throughout the put falling world and beyond, he never arrived because en route here, is plain came down over the english channel but in the months that followed his death, a bitter dispute has emerged between the clubs over who actually owned the clubs over who actually owned the player and that means of course whether or not cardiff city are liable to pay that £15 million tra nsfer liable to pay that £15 million transfer fee. cardiff city argue that they are not liable because he wasn't officially their player when he died but in september, a committee of the world governing body depo disagreed and they ordered the club to pay the first instalment. today, we got the reasons behind the decision and they make clear the pivotal issue is whether the transfer had been as they describe it validly concluded and after looking at the arguments, the first says the player was a player of cardif

international, who's been nominated for the ballon d'0r and fifa's women's player of the year, has signed a 2.5—year deal with chelsea and she's looking forward to joining up with manager emma hayes. i think chelsea is one of the biggest clubs in the world and once i kind of had my mindset on europe, it was kind of an easy to choose chelsea as a club stop i think she is going to be a coach that challenges me a lot, i have a lot to learn from her and i like that she is old business and can also have a bit of a laugh as well, because that is who i am. looking at the players and the depth they have with a huge draw card for me. i didn't come here to just be draw card for me. i didn't come here tojust be here. i came here to lift trophies and win silverware with the clu b trophies and win silverware with the club and there is no denying that i have come to score goals, so hopefully i can keep my goalscoring record up and help the team lift those trophies and be a part of it. the former arsenal manager arsene wenger is returning to football, but not as a manager. he's been named as fifa's new chie

categories earlier this year in the best fifa player of the year awards. and the win for messi comes just 2a hours after he scored the winning goal for barcelona in their la liga win over atletico madrid. it's a record sixth time the 32—year—old has taken the award and comes ten years after he won it for the first time. translation: ten years ago, i was awarded my first ballon d'or here in paris. i remember i came with my three brothers. i came with my three brothers. i was 22 years old and everything that was happening to me, it was unthinkable. now, ten years later, i have received the sixth one in a totally different and special moment in my personal life, with my wife and my three sons. while megan rapinoe won the women's award in a year that saw her claim a second fifa women's world cup with the usa as they hoisted the trophy aloft in france. the 34—year—old co—captain of her country is also known for being an activist and an advocate for numerous lgbt organisations. i mean, like, i can't believe i'm actually the one winning it in this field. it's been such an incredib

tuesday. wenger was appointed fifa's new chief of global football development last month. but despite his new role, wenger said he's more than happy to advise arsenal's new caretaker manager freddie ljungberg as he begins his career at the emirates. i want them to do well and i wish freddie well. he has wanted to do thisjob for a long time. he has got an opportunity and let's get him to work with his ideas and let's support him. it's being billed as the clash on the dunes as saudi arabia hosts the biggest heavyweight fight of 2019, the rematch between andy ruinunior and anthonyjoshua. it comes six months after ruiz‘s shock world title win in new york — notjust inflicting the briton‘s first defeat as a professional, but the manner of it reverberated around the sporting world. well they're back to do it all again on saturday and joshua says he's fully prepared this time around. it was an unknown test, i give the man his credit, he was victorious, well done to him for that. now it's my turn to kind of right my wrongs. he thinks he is probably going to do the same thing and get the same